A picture of Peggy Mangan's beloved "friend" Casper is pasted on the walls of a dog unit van set to carry a search and rescue canine donated in her memory.

Her daughters, Orla Lynch and Louise Hollywood, were delighted when they received a call from specialist canine trainer Paul Murphy, offering to train a dog in her name for the Dublin Civil Defence.

And yesterday Max, an English springer spaniel, who has been fully trained up as a "Human Remains" or "Cadaver Dog", was handed over to the Civil Defence.

Alzheimer's sufferer Ms Mangan disappeared from her home in Terenure, Dublin, last September. Her body was found five days later with her faithful spaniel Casper standing vigil over her body, only for him to die hours later.

"We went through desperate times, searching for our mam day and night, but the Civil Defence weren't allowed out to look for her," Louise revealed.

"We're delighted with this now because it's something we would really have liked and needed for ourselves at the time."

At the Civil Defence headquarters on Dublin's Wolfe Tone Quay yesterday, Justice Minister Alan Shatter was there to watch the handover. Mr Shatter revealed that more dogs like Max will be rolled out as "standard issue" for Civil Defence networks across the country.

Meanwhile, Mr Shatter refused to be drawn on why he turned down an invitation to attend the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors in Kerry, with the Department of Justice saying it was because he was marking the Passover.

When asked if he regretted his decision not to attend, he replied: "I'm not addressing other issues today, thank you."